THE European Union has threatened to scrap a crucial summit to rubber-stamp a Brexit deal later this month if there is no breakthrough in the current deadlock in negotiations.

Tony Connelly, Europe Editor at RTE, tweeted a senior European Union official had told Ireland’s national broadcaster there will be “no breakthrough” on the Irish backstop issue this week.

This is reportedly because the UK-wide customs arrangement apparently proposed by Theresa May “brings with it a whole spectrum of small print, on "level playing field" issues, such as competition rules, state aid, social, environmental, health and safety rules that member states will want assurances on before they sign up to it”.

Mr Connelly said this means the EU won’t grant tariff and quota-free access to the UK for a temporary customs arrangement without assurances on those level playing field issues.

The senior EU official told RTE: “This bare bones EU-UK customs agreement, defining it in terms of a single customs territory, all that has yet to be drawn up.

Brexit latest: The EU is threatening to scrap a crunch summit later this month (Image: GETTY)

“The EU is looking for the details of that proposal, of what that means, and they’re waiting for Olly Robbins to tell them.”

Mr Connelly said the view in Brussels is that in seeking the temporary customs arrangement (TCA), the UK "hadn't bargained for the conditions that would be attached, and Theresa May will find it difficult, if not impossible, to get that thru the cabinet tomorrow”.

The senior EU official added: "If there is no agreement in the next week at technical and services level, there’s no chance of a summit in November.

“By this day week you’d need it at the latest. You could move the summit to the last few days of the month but you’d still require all of the various work to be completed by next Monday at the latest, before you could have a summit.”

9.30pm update: Brits would back 'Remain' in new referendum as 'Leave' voters change mind - shock new poll finds

Britons would vote to stay in the EU if there was a second Brexit vote, with those in the biggest 'Leave' areas changing their mind.

This is according to a survey published by Channel 4, with Survation interviewing 20,000 people between October 20 and November 2.

It found Britain would stay in the bloc by 54 percent to 46 percent, estimating more than 100 local authorities would now vote to stay.

Even if Theresa May overcomes the infighting in her own Conservative Party to finalise a Brexit agreement with Brussels, the poll found a third of people would reject the deal compared to just 26 percent who would accept it.

If the Prime Minister succeeds in agreeing a deal before the March 29 deadline, 36 percent said Britain should exit the bloc without a deal, 35 percent said it should stay in the EU and 19 percent said the departure should be delayed until an agreement is reached.

But if Mrs May did agree a deal, 43 percent would back a referendum to choose between accepting a deal or remaining in the EU, compared to 37 percent who would oppose the choice.

Theresa May met Sebastian Kurz and told him she is confident of a solution on the Northern Ireland border issue, currently the sticking point for Brexit to happen in time for the March 29 deadline.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister updated the chancellor on the progress of Brexit negotiations saying that 95 percent of the withdrawal agreement was now complete, and that she was confident that a solution could be found on the Northern Ireland backstop.

"The Prime Minister added that the UK wanted to see quick progress and that both the UK and the EU were working hard to achieve an agreement."

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou Mcdonald has urged Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to stand firm over a prosposed backstop plan to prevent a hard border in Ireland after Brexit.

Earlier today it was revealed Mr Varadkar told Theresa May in a phone call he was willing to consider proposals for a review clause in any backstop plan.

In a public message to the Taoiseach, Ms McDonald warned the backstop "cannot be diluted".

Urging him to "show leadership" and not "leave behind" the people of Northern Ireland, she said:"Anything that weakens or softens the Irish Government's position as to the baseline protections that we need is something to be avoided.

"I very much hope and I very much expect that the Taoiseach, the Government and the Michel Barnier team will remain on track, I fully expect that the promises and commitments freely made last December to protect Ireland to be honoured, and it is the job of the Taoiseach to ensure that it is so.

"Now is not the moment to cloud issues or muddy the waters, now is the moment for leadership and absolute clarity, and the backstop as agreed last December is the bottom line, it can't be walked away from, it can't be diluted down. It is the bottom line and it is what must be delivered if there is to be a withdrawal agreement.

"The Taoiseach assured people in the north that they would never again be left behind, and now is truth time, now is the moment for that pledge to be honoured, we expect that it will be. All of us who care about this island, north and south, all of us who wish to see prosperity, equality and opportunity and a decent shared future, all of us need to hold firm.

"Now is the moment that leadership is required, we expect that that will be provided by the Government in Dublin."

Nigel Farage has said public trust in politics would be lost if Brexit did not happen (Image: GETTY)

Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned MPs on the Commons Treasury Committee if the UK doesn't pay the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit, then it won't be regarded as a "reliable partner" in future trade deals.

He said: "What we have done in the negotiation is reached agreement on a formula for determining a number post-exist which has been agreed by the UK in the context of a deal. And we would not necessarily be prepared to agree that same formula in the context of no deal.

"But it would not be plausible or credible for the UK to assert that in the case of no deal, then no money at all was payable in respect of these obligations that were entered into during our period of membership.

"If we were to do so, we would effectively rule ourselves out as being regarded as reliable partners in future international deals of any kind, including trade deals."

The government has been warned against causing further confusion over the post-Brexit future of EU citizens living in the UK.

Shadow Home Secretary Dianne Abbott said there had been "very real distress" around messages from ministers towards three million EU citizens, their families and employers - warning the "clock is ticking" and more details are required soon.

Speaking in the Commons, she said:"Does the minister accept that as we move towards leaving the EU, this type of confusion over policy is simply not acceptable.

"It's not just the good faith of Government that she's calling into question, but it's people's lives that we are playing with and does the minister accept finally that it simply isn't good enough to come before this House and talk about further information being provided in due course.

"It is five months to go and the clock is ticking, and we want no further confusions of this nature."

More than four in 10 Britons would back a second referendum offering the choice between an agreed withdrawal deal or remaining in the EU, one of the largest polls conducted on the subject has revealed.

Channel 4 quizzed around 20,000 people ahead of a live televised debate where senior politicians will go against each other over the UK’s decision to leave the bloc.

The poll showed 43 percent would support a second referendum that was a binary choice between a deal and remaining, with 37 percent against a vote on those terms.

But while it was backed by 63 percent of people who voted Remain, it was supported by just a fifth of Leave supporters.

Margaret Thatcher was “a fighter” and would not have accepted the European Union’s continuous demands in Brexit negotiations in the same way Prime Minister Theresa May has, former Tory MP David Mellor has said.

Prime Minister Theresa May has secured a secret Brexit deal with the EU which would keep the whole of the UK in the customs union to avoid a hard border in Ireland, according to the Sunday Times.

The former Tory MP ripped into Mrs May and said she is “not a fighter” like former Prime minister Conservative Margaret Thatcher.

Speaking to Brexiteer Nigel Farage on LBC, Mr Mellor said: “The trouble with Theresa May, she thinks one more concession and she will get a deal.

“You know, that is the worry. I believe that when she exposes this stuff, I think a lot of people will think ‘if you’d fought harder and you’d been a different sort of person’.

“Let’s go back to a cliche. I was Margaret Thatcher’s youngest minister for four years. I served in her Government for nine years and another two under John Major.

“Margaret Thatcher was a fighter. “Theresa May is not a fighter. “Would Margaret Thatcher be accepting a lot of this stuff? No, no, no, no.”

Irish Prime <inister Leo Varadkar has told Theresa May to scrap any British backstop offer which gives the UK an opportunity to unilaterally revoke the agreement in the future.

Mr Varadkar issued the warning after British negotiators tabled demands for an “escape clause” from any backstop deal, which would trigger a no-deal Brexit.

The two leaders discussed the current state of Brexit negotiations during a short phone call on Monday morning as London desperately tries to break the latest impasse.

Hopes of a conclusion for the withdrawal deal being reached this week were dashed after continuous EU-UK talks have ended with “nothing new”, according to an EU official.

An Irish government source revealed that Mr Varadkar made it clear to Mrs May Ireland and Brussels would both seek to reject any attempts by Britain include a clause giving them the unilateral ability to quit the backstop.

3.20pm update: Pound jumps on reports of a Brexit deal

The British currency briefly rose to a two-week high on hopes a Brexit deal was on the verge of being agreed with the EU.

Sterling was up 2.3 basis points at $1.302 - its best result since October 22 - after a Sunday Times report claimed an all-UK customs deal will be written into the agreement governing Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

Theresa May's office said the report was speculative, but that 95 percent of the deal was agreed and negotiations were ongoing.

Brexit latest: Theresa May has been warned by Leo Varadkar over an Irish backstop offer (Image: GETTY)

Paul Withers taking over live reporting from Laura Mowat

2pm update: Nigel Farage says he is confident May will get a withdrawal deal from the EU

Speaking to Sky, Mr Farage said: “In classic Brussels style, at the 11th hour there will be a deal, I've no doubt about that. It will be Brexit in name only.

“The rebels within the Conservative Party tend to melt away and become a relatively small number.

“My guess is that the customs union style deal that Theresa May is lining up ... she'll get it through parliament.”

The former Ukip leader said if Brexit did not happen, there would not be violence on the streets but the Tory party would suffer and UK politics would be shaken up.

1:30pm update: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke to the Prime Minister Theresa May about the Brexit negotiations

Mrs May spoke about the possibility of a review mechanism for the Irish backstop.

The Taoiseach said he was open to proposals as long as the review did not involve unilateral decision to end the backstop.

He made it clear the backstop must apply ‘unless and until’ alternative arrangements are agreed.

Both May and Varadkar said they were hopeful negotiations could conclude as soon as possible.

The letters demanding a People's Vote come after 700,000 marched in London for a second EU vote (Image: GETTY)

1pm update: UK confident it will reach a deal with EU on financial services trade

A letter calling for a public vote on the Brexit deal has been signed by more than 70 top business leaders saying the Brexit deal will fail to bring “frictionless” trade.

The letter to the Sunday Times has been signed by the country’s top business heads, including the former boss of Sainsbury’s Justin King.

The business leaders have formed a group called Business for a People’s Vote, which will launch on Thursday.

The letter says: “The business community was promised that, if the country voted to leave, there would continue to be frictionless trade with the EU and the certainty about future relations that we need to invest for the long term.

"Despite the Prime Minister's best efforts, the proposals being discussed by the government and the European Commission fall far short of this.

"The uncertainty over the past two years has already led to a slump in investment."

A second Brexit referendum has been backed by 1,400 of the UK’s top lawyers who have urged MPs to back one.

The lawyers, which include Labour peer Baroness Kennedy QC, have sent a letter to Parliament saying they are not legally tied to the 2016 vote.

The letter said: “Democratic government is not frozen in time” and questioned the validity of the vote and said it should not be the final word for the government any more than the 1975 referendum, which led to the UK joining the EU.

The letter said during the 2016 referendum “the nature of the negotiation process and its outcome were unknown.

“Voters faced a choice between a known reality and an unknown alternative. In the campaign, un-testable claims took the place of facts and reality."

Mr Baker said: “If we are going to regulate our own economy, if we are going to have our own independent trade policy, if we are going to be a normal independent country - which is what I understood the referendum result to have decided - then we need to be out of the customs union and we need to get out of the customs union in a timely way.”

One thousand nationalists have signed a letter to Leo Varadkar demanding he defend the right of Irish citizens north of the border amid the uncertainty of Brexit.

The letter said: “There is a very real potential that partition could be reinforced, and our country and our people further divided.

"This is a source of grave concern to all of us.

"We, as Irish citizens, urge you to adhere to your commitment that we would 'never again be left behind by an Irish Government' and to redouble your efforts, and the efforts of your government, to ensure that our rights are protected."